HOW TO LICENSE FAMOUS SONGS
The ultimate guide to using legally known songs
The ultimate guide to using legally known songs
Since the beginnings of Legis Music, our first goal has always been to provide our clients with legal music for their audiovisual projects or businesses, betting on platforms that meet all the requirements that a professional could need, such as:
However, with the exception of Soundtrack Your Brand and Cloud Cover Music which offer famous background music for business, the rest of the platforms we recommend offer music by independent artists.
In other words, none of these companies offer music by well-known artists such as Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars or Beyoncé.
This is something that many of our clients have been asking us for some time now.
They want to use popular music in their projects and businesses but they don’t really know how to license famous songs in a legal and economical way.
For this reason, we have decided to create this complete guide that will solve the most frequently asked questions we have received from our readers.
And we will start by differentiating between the copyright of a song and obtaining the license to use that song.
In the first case, it is necessary to carry out a series of steps, such as:
In this article, you will be able to know in-depth each one of those steps.
However, the aim of this article is more towards the second option: to obtain the licenses of famous songs.
To do this, we must differentiate between the different kinds of music licenses that exist.
Music licenses are one of the most important revenue streams for known artists.
Because the songs are copyrighted material, written agreements with the copyright owners will be needed to allow others to use the musical works.
These written agreements are called licenses, which include the cost of the license and the rights of use that will determine how the music track can be used.
In short, if you are using – or are going to use – a well-known song for anything that other people will hear, be it a movie, a video or other audiovisual pieces, you will need a music license to use it legally.
There are currently seven types of licenses. Whether you buy one, another, or several of them will depend on the purpose for which you want the song.
The synchronization license refers to the musical concession for some type of audiovisual media. That is,
it will be necessary for any type of content where music and moving images are used simultaneously.
Some examples of this are:
When a song is licensed for synchronization, the composer or editor of the song receives a commission for the use of the composition (score and lyrics).
In the same way, the owner of the rights – usually the record companies – will also receive a commission for the use of the original master recording.
To simplify it we will say that if you have composed a song and you have not sold the rights, you are the editor.
But if you have composed and recorded the song, you are the owner of the master recording and the rights. In this case, you would have to be paid both commissions.
The master license gives authorization to the person acquiring it to use the song in audiovisual projects.
As you can see, this license is quite similar to the sync license, because both are necessary to use the music in the media but, at the same time, they are slightly different.
Where the synchronization license allows the client to use the composition (score and lyrics) in order to re-record and re-version the song, the master license confers on the client the rights to the original master recording.
In most cases, recording companies usually control the rights to the master license, while authors, composers, and publishers control the sync license.
Therefore, in order to have the “full” usage rights of a song, it is often necessary to acquire both the master license and the sync license.
This license is perhaps the most common form of music license issued today, which allows you to publicly expose the work either on the street, television or radio among others.
In other words, every time someone plays famous music for an audience, they will have to pay for it.
The ones in charge of billing this payment are generally the Performance Rights Organizations (PROs) which will issue the royalties corresponding to the artists for each use.
This license enables the song to be reproduced through any media and under any circumstances.
It is necessary to be able to record the music on a CD or another device in which the musical track is going to be distributed.
The distribution license -also called mechanical- is used to authorize other companies to commercialize the song, i.e. that it appears in different points of sale.
This distribution can be in two types of format:
In either case, the distributor takes a commission on the sales produced.
This type of license refers to the physical copy of the score that an artist has created, and is required when someone prints a compilation of scores or at any time they are reproduced.
It is a type of license that is very common in theatrical performances.
Theatrical licensing is necessary whenever a copyrighted musical work is to be performed on stage in front of an audience.
From the licenses you have seen above, there are two of them that you will need to purchase in order to use a certain song: the sync license and the master license.
You have already seen that both are very similar but slightly different.
For your better understanding, I’ll give you an example:
The record label Universal Music controls the publishing rights of the work “White Christmas”, which was composed by Irving Berling.
If you wanted to use the recording of “White Christmas” interpreted by Bing Crosby, you would need to contact Universal Music who, apart from having the editorial rights of the original song -the lyrics-, are also the owners of the phonographic rights -the master recording- of this version of the song.
In case you prefer to use this same song but reversioned by Gloria Estefan, you would need to contact Sony Music, which would have the rights of the master recording, but also Universal Music, which maintains the rights of the lyrics of the song.
That’s why you need both licenses to be able to use any famous song.
The first thing you should know is the copyright owner of the song you want to use. Sometimes it may be the same artist but usually, it is the label companies that have recorded the content.
The three most important worldwide are Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and Warner Music Group (WMG).
While this may seem like an easy task, it is not always.
A good practice to follow would be finding the contact details of publishers through PROs, as all professional composers and music publishers belong to one of these organizations.
Depending on the country you are in, the main copyright regulators of musical works are:
Practically all of these PROs will be able to provide you with sync licenses for the famous songs you’re looking for.
This is because almost all artists, composers and publishers are members of these organizations.
However, as explained above, apart from the sync license you will need the master license and, to obtain it, you will need to contact the record companies of those songs.
Once you discover the copyright company of the song, the next step is to contact them for letting them know of your interest and find out the requirements and price of the licenses.
Nowadays, the most normal and established way is to write them an email. Although if you’re old school, regular mail letters are also welcome.
The content of this email or letter would be:
The last two points are quite important because if you do not expect a large number of reproductions or have a non-commercial purpose, you could try to ask permission to use the song for free.
However, in order to avoid numerous return mailings, it is best to provide as much information as possible about your specific case.
In most cases, you will get the licenses you need. The problem is usually the money you need to pay for that permission.
However, if it happens that you are not allowed to use the song or the amount of money is too high for your possibilities, what you should never do is use the song without obtaining the licenses.
This is illegal, and you could receive harsh financial penalties, that can be followed by legal and penal liability in the worst-case scenario.
To avoid these legal headaches and costly fines there are three possible solutions:
Next, we’re going to go one by one looking at these solutions, so we’ll start by answering the next question.
The simple answer is that there is no set cost. In other words, the cost of licensing a famous song can vary quite a bit.
If it is a song by a small independent artist, the cost of a license could be between $50 and $150.
However, if you’re looking to license famous songs by top artists, the price can skyrocket to several thousand dollars without any problem.
In fact, by acquiring some licenses from record companies, they could include in the contract a percentage of the revenue earned through that license.
For example, if a famous song is played in your film, it generates a million-dollar of turnover, and in the music license contract a 1% of the income has been established, apart from the cost of the license itself, an additional 10,000 dollars will have to be paid to the record company.
There are also cases in which there is a charge per second for the use of the song. That is to say, if the song costs $500 / second and you use 10 seconds for your advertising wedge, you will have to pay $5000.
Nevertheless, the cost will depend on the medium in which it is used, the seconds used, the agreement reached with the record company, and so on.
But remember that in all cases the fees are negotiable and not all publishers and record labels charge the same quantity.
Probably the amounts you are seeing may seem astronomical to you, but they are not only real, they can also be much higher.
It is for this reason that many people look for other alternatives that are much more affordable.
This is the case of FyrFly-SongFreedom.
Songfreedom –founded in 2010 and now called Fyrfly-SongFreedom- is a company that acquires, collects and provides the famous music sync licenses for different types of audiovisual use.
In fact, it is the first company to offer pre-authorized sync licenses from the world’s most representative record labels and publishers such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.
This platform makes it possible for anyone to legally use quality music in their projects, from new indie tracks to 40 of the best hits.
All without the hassle and expensive process of obtaining the licenses you already know.
You’ll understand it better with the following example.
Let’s suppose you want to add one of your favorite songs – let’s say, “Sunday Morning” by Maroon 5 – to your new YouTube video.
You go to FyrFly-SongFreedom and look for the song to learn more about its licenses. To do so, click on the “Buy” button.
Then you will have to answer a few questions to determine the use and size of your audiovisual project and, in this way, be able to establish the cost of the license.
Depending on the factors mentioned above, FyrFly-Songfreedom will set different tariffs for different users.
By offering about 100 different price scenarios, the license may cost as little as $15 or as much as $1500.
However, you should keep in mind that, to use their service, you must first register – and pay – for your membership.
There are three different types of membership:
Name of the license |
Photographers |
Live Event Filmakers |
Full Scope |
Price |
$119 / year |
$199 / year |
$399 / year |
Visit |
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What includes |
Unlimited music included for standard use in FyrFly slideshows only: Weddings, Life Events, Personal, School, Church and Single-Listing Real Estate |
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Curated Playlists Music supervisors ready to help you find the perfect song for your project |
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Premium songs from Tracks for only $35/use |
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Custom, user-friendly slideshow maker |
Custom, user-friendly slideshow maker |
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Video hosting with unlimited storage |
Video hosting with unlimited storage |
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Unlimited music for commercial licenses: Film Festivals, Corporate, Non-Profit, Crowdfunding, Blog and Podcast |
It is important to say that this last membership –’Full Scope’- is the only one of the three that allows a commercial use of the music that you will find in the platform.
As you can see, this platform has tremendously affordable prices when compared to the figures usually demanded by record companies.
That’s why Songfreedom is the first platform to offer music solutions that allow songs that everyone knows and loves to be shared legally and publicly, making it easier for audio-visual creators and allowing rights owners to earn more revenue.
At this point in the article, maybe you’re considering that playing famous music is not as easy or cheap as you thought.
Luckily, there are other options that, while not providing familiar songs, offer premium music from independent artists.
Epidemic Sound: Specially created for Youtube and social networks. The difference between Epidemic and other similar services is that, in addition to being able to purchase individual licenses for each song, it is also possible to access the entire music portfolio through a monthly subscription that starts at $15/month.
Envato Elements: The simplest. For a subscription of only $16.50 per month, you can download unlimited music from their portal for use in videos and multimedia creations.
Audiojungle: With more than half a million songs and sound effects, it is probably the most complete marketplace with the best prices. It offers five different license types for all possible usage cases.
Artlist: With an extensive music library, it is very similar to the first two, however, the subscription is paid annually rather than monthly. ($199 a year in a single payment).
Premium Beat: This Shutterstock service offers more than 10,000 songs and sound effects for your corporate videos through two different licenses, which will vary in price and performance according to your needs.
Shutterstock Music: It is a simple and intuitive platform to obtain music licenses without copyright. You will have access to a library with more than 60,000 musical themes that you can filter by genre, tempo and environment.
TunePocket: This is a service focused on videos, movies, games and other projects that offers a library with thousands of music tracks, loops and sound effects, which is expanded daily.
As you’ve seen throughout the article,
licensing famous songs is possible as long as you have the necessary resources.
Doing so in the normal way – through the PROs and record companies – can be tremendously expensive and, in many cases, economically inefficient method.
However, if in the end, you decide to obtain licenses for a certain popular song, you have already seen what you will need:
If you do it this way, even if it is a long, time-consuming and costly process, you will have no problems of any kind.
However, it is better to do so than to use the song illegally.
You know that if you do so, you will almost certainly have to face harsh economic penalties that could bring associated legal and penal responsibilities.
Luckily, you now know a much cheaper, faster and safer alternative to using several of the most popular music tracks: FyrFly-SongFreedom.
Their ‘Full Scope’ membership ($399 / year) will cover whatever your use case is, commercial or non-profit, including movies, videos or events.
And if after all the information you have now you think that licensing popular music is too expensive and complex, you can always take a look at the platforms that offer royalty-free music licenses, like the ones we mentioned earlier.
We recommend you visit our articles on music for ads and music for movies, in whose we break down all the steps necessary to get to pay the licenses of the music you want and avoid problems when using it in your creations.
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